I'm not and I won't. Just HPDEs (and maybe some autocross events like once a year). What I'm looking for is a setup that'll give me confidence to push the car close to its limits. Just something that will me the experience enjoyable and not frightening.
For this reason I went with carbotech XP20 (most likely overkill for what I do but I KNOW I can trust them) and R-S4s (consistent grip while not extreme like the RT660 or A052)

 

i will venture a piece of advice, if you dont mind.

i seems you are a bit obsessed with shocks (like very many enthusiasts are). try to concentrate not so much on the parts themselves but rather on their effect. it took me several years to get away from the "signature this, signature that" attitude. identify what exactly you want to change on the cars handling first (e.g. more under steer to be able to get on the gas earlier). then find out what might provide that effect (e.g. different tire pressure balance, stiffer front bar). then try to achieve that with the simplest means possible (e.g. stiffer bushings or simply a shim under the bushing). go and see if you met your goal or if you maybe overshot it and now other unfavourable effects occur. if you go to the track a dozen times a year you will hardly feel the difference, also because the adrenaline level in that situation. you have to do your testing "on the street".

lets face it: there are no magic components and there is no way around the track stability/street comfort trade-off. my car is so hard by now im sure it would be a nuisance for most enthusiasts on the street (roads are quite decent in europe) but i enjoy it, because i can clearly see the effect of the mods i planed and implemented.

the opposite strategy, btw, would be to let an engineer custom valve your shocks after you established the rest of the set up. he will spend several hours on the test stand and "map" the shocks to what is best in his experience, but that would be for a well defined application only.

summary: play around with shims.

 

First, two things:

1: I worry (without any real proof) that the shocks might not be as good as they once were. If that's the case (I don't know that) I though that, for a bit more $, I can get better ones (two birds with one stone?).
Basically it's just "feelings" (or baseless worries)

2: There are instances (both on track and on an autocross course) where I feel the car a bit unsettled. Best example being something like a "hammer head". Straight, brake, turn right (relatively wide radius), brake, turn left (tight radius).
This is a case where there's quick transition of force (and, maybe, need for grip) in three different directions where/when the car doesn't feel as planted as other parts of the track (I'm only talking about how the weight transfer feels, not the grip/loss of it). By "car doesn't feel as planted" I mean "I feel uneasy pushing it more in the area". Another example being a slalom (where I'm afraid the back will be thrown out by the weight transfer).

 

2 is what the 04 Z06 shocks were designed to correct. It's not going to do the hand and footwork for you, but it will be easier with them. The rebound is stiffer out back which makes the car's return from compression less abrupt so it's less prone to whip the other way as the car transfers weight from side to side. But then again, an aftermarket shock with stiffer than stock valving is likely to provide that same benefit.

 

Are the DRMs supposed to be like that?

 

I would assume so, but I can't say. IMO best bet would be to call them, explain what your car is doing, and ask how their shocks compare to yours and the 04 Z06.

 

My conclusion to this thread is:

Wait for the DRMs to be back in stock. But that might take a while which will give me time to read more, do a few more HPDEs and "sleep on it"

 

Some say yes some say no to these.... What's a mother to do?